As society has modernized, some argue that the criminal law of a state governed by the rule of law can no longer fulfill its duty to protect individuals on its own. To guarantee individual freedom and rights against state power, it is no longer enough to protect individual legal interests as in the past; we now face a situation in which it is hard to remove new risks or guarantee safety. Yet removing risks or strengthening safety inevitably requires limiting freedom.

In this situation we face the question of whether we must unconditionally give up our 'freedom' in return for gaining 'safety' through law. Setting that aside, if law clearly guaranteed the safety of society and individuals, partial limits on freedom could be accepted. But whether law actually and clearly guarantees 'safety' is still open to debate.

For example, sex crimes that keep occurring make the public, especially women, anxious; more and more people demand surveillance and punishment of sex offenders, and the state has adopted harsh punishment policies. To fight and prevent serious sex crimes and stop reoffending, the government and legislature have enacted and amended criminal laws, producing strong legislative responses and a variety of sex crime policies. The recent amendment of the Criminal Act raising the maximum prison term to 30 years, or 50 years when aggravated, shows this.

By time of day, sex crimes occur most often at night, and about 22,000 occurred in 2011. That is about 60 a day, or more than 2 an hour. By season they occur most often in summer, and by place they occur most in homes, then on streets, in lodging facilities and in bathhouses. Seoul had the most sex crimes and Yeosu the fewest. About 2,000 occur at dawn, 1,000 in the early morning, 1,000 in the late morning, 2,000 in the afternoon, 1,000 in the evening and 7,000 at night, showing that by far the most occur at night.

Looking at offenders' criminal records, about 30 percent were first-time offenders and about 60 percent repeat offenders. Among repeat offenders, about 10 percent had prior convictions for the same type of crime and about 80 percent for other types. Among those with prior convictions for the same type, about 40 percent reoffended within a year. The more prior convictions, the higher the share of crimes committed alone.

About 7 percent of sexual violence offenders had accomplices, most often neighborhood friends, then school classmates and then coworkers. About 30 percent of offenders said their motive was impulsive, about 10 percent curiosity, and 6 percent claimed they had been seduced. By occupation, about 20 percent were unemployed and about 10 percent self-employed. This paper examines what effective methods could eradicate such sex crimes.

To find effective ways to eradicate sex crimes, we first look at other countries. Among the sex crime prevention measures in the United States, we examine New York's SAFE program. It is a forensic response model for sex crimes, with the advantage of offering a new perspective and possibilities for dramatically strengthening the justice system's response. New York's integrated forensic response program is a hospital-based model that supports the response to sex crimes by combining the FHP and SAE programs.

New York State law asks participating hospitals to set up contact systems with rape crisis organizations and sex crime support agencies and, to build a system for cooperation among agencies providing response services, to contact an advocate on condition that the victim consents.

Note: The Criminal Act's Article 42 was amended on April 15, 2010 to raise the maximum fixed-term imprisonment to 30 years, or 50 years when aggravated. From June 19, 2013, amendments to six sex crime laws including the Criminal Act and the Sexual Violence Punishment Act took effect, abolishing every provision that made sex crimes prosecutable only on complaint or barred prosecution against the victim's wishes, and changing the object of rape from 'a woman' to 'a person.' The crime statistics and foreign sentencing levels in the paper reflect the time it was written and may have changed by country or state, so check current sources.